Man With Sawed-Off Shotgun Arrested At Hoboken Liquor Store: PD

HOBOKEN, NJ — A rookie officer helped to arrest two suspected shoplifters at a Hoboken liquor store on Tuesday, one of whom had a sawed-off shotgun hidden under his clothes, police said.

According to the Hoboken Police Department, officers responded to a report of a shoplifting at Giannone Wine and Liquor on River Street around 2 p.m. The suspected thieves allegedly took a bottle of Patron tequila valued at $50, concealed it and left the store without paying.

When police arrived, they found the two suspected shoplifters - Raffaelle Spadavecchia, 18, of Hoboken, and Eric Williams, 20, of Jersey City, still in the area, authorities stated.

Hoboken officer Joseph Mezzina and rookie officer Jonathan Lyons - who recently graduated from the police academy and is still in field training – were able to catch up to the pair at Third and River streets. As a third officer, Dylan Archilla, responded to the scene for backup, Lyons noticed a “long, dark object” peeking out from underneath a tear in Spadaveccia’s jeans.

The object was later revealed to be a an illegal, loaded, sawed-off shotgun, slung over Spadaveccia’s shoulder with use of a belt and placed underneath his sweatshirt and into his pant leg, police said.

Archilla immediately reacted and disarmed the suspect, taking control of him and securing the weapon, while Lyons took control of Williams, police said.

Authorities charged Spadaveccia with possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose (2nd degree crime), certain persons not to have weapons (2nd degree), unlawful possession of a weapon (3rd degree), possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose (3rd degree), prohibited weapons (3rd degree), defaced firearm (3rd degree) and shoplifting (disorderly persons offense).

Williams was charged with shoplifting and found to have an outstanding warrant for his arrest on an unrelated matter, authorities said.

Police transported Spadaveccia and Williams to the Hudson County Correctional Facility.

“I commend the outstanding display of bravery by Officer Dylan Archilla who quickly reacted to physically disarm the individual who was possessing a loaded, sawed-off shotgun and take him down without injury to the suspect, the officers or any innocent civilians,” Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante said.

“I further commend the keen eye of Officer Jonathan Lyons, a rookie officer who is still in his field training period, who was the first one to see the shotgun under the suspect’s clothing and immediately reacted and alerted Officer Archilla,” Ferrante added.

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